![]() ![]() How the Eel’s Diet Develops during Its LifeĮels are so complex and diverse that they have four different suborders, each containing several different families. The eel is now ready to make the long journey back to its birthplace in the spawning grounds of the Sargasso Sea (eels final location), where the entire cycle begins over again. Not only does the eel change color, but its eyes grow, its digestive tract shuts down, and its pectoral fins widen. The transformation into silver eels is one of the strangest. They then turn into yellow eels and remain in this form for up to 20 years, growing and building up the fat stores they need to survive their final stage of life. Upon entering a freshwater habitat, the glass eel starts to pigment and turns into an elver that travels upstream, searching for their juvenile and adult habitats in which to grow. It takes the larvae between one and three years to reach the coastal waters they need to enter the next phase of their life, and it’s here that they metamorphose into glass eels. You’re too small to swim against the current, so you drift along, going wherever the Gulf stream takes you.įor some leptocephali or eel larvae, that journey only ends 6,500 km away from their spawning ground in the Sargasso Sea. When you hatch out of your egg, you’re just a transparent willow leaflike larvae, all 5mm long. Cannot hover in the water (lack a swim bladder) – they have to swim to stay off the bottomĬome visit the Aquarium to learn more about the wolf eel at Winter Fishtival.All eels share a similar life cycle, but it’s the freshwater eels that are r-eely interesting!.Are shy and retiring, in spite of their name and appearance.Do not have scales like most other fish –their scales are very small and imbedded in their skin giving them a leathery feel and appearance.Sometimes get “itchy” skin and can be seen swimming upside down rubbing their backs on rocks to scratch the itch.Have a thick slime coating on their skin that helps protect them (works like an immune system).Can live more than 20 years in an aquarium setting.These spots allow biologists to individually identify our different wolf eels at the aquarium. Each individual has a unique pattern of dark spots on its head and body.Octopus and wolf eels often compete for den space.Only one parent at a time will go out to feed. They are guarded by both parents who wrap themselves around the egg mass for protection. ![]() Female lays about 10,000 eggs in the den, which take between 13-16 weeks to mature and hatch.Inhabit dens, crevices and caves in the reefs.Gentle, slow-moving creatures and are often very friendly with divers.Females keep the younger looking more streamlined face and are typically a bit darker in color. Males are a lighter grey color and have a fat wrinkly face when reproductively mature – around five years old.Can grow up to eight feet long and have 200 spinal vertebrae.Jaws are powerful and equipped with 3 rows of molars across the roof of their mouth and 2 rows of molars on the bottom jaw – used like a nut cracker to crush hard foods like urchins, clams and crabs As wolf eels age, the bright colors dull and they become shades of grays and browns.Young are brick red with bright orange and purple highlights.Not a real eel, just a long skinny fish.Wolf eels are not the same as true eels because they have pectoral fins behind their head, which is a characteristic of a fish, which is not in the eel family (almost all true eels do not have pectoral fins). Only a few deep water species of true eels can be found in Washington waters and none are likely to be seen in Puget Sound. The wolf eel is in the family Anarchichadidae (wolf fishes). Here are some fun and interesting facts about wolf eels. Today the featured animal is the wolf eel. Join us for hands-on activities, special talks and opportunities to learn more about the care and feeding of the Aquarium's fish, birds, tide pool animals and marine mammals during Winter Fishtival! Each day we'll highlight a different sea animal and activity. ![]()
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